"Heh, hehehe..."
"Hehehe..."
"Heh... hehehe..."
Einstein instinctively glanced toward the source of the sound and saw Tesla, hugging a pillow and staring blankly into space. One moment she was giggling to herself, the next she was burying her face in the pillow.
The sound of her friend's laughter sent shivers down Einstein's spine.
What's gotten into her? How did she end up like this? She was perfectly fine before she left for work.
Einstein was completely bewildered.
"Lobster-head, can you please pipe down?"
"Huh? What lobster? Where are the lobsters?"
Einstein's call snapped Tesla partially back to reality, but only partially.
"Tesla, you..." Einstein looked at her helplessly. "What... What on earth are you doing? Why have you been so out of it since you got back?"
"Huh? Out of it? No, I haven't. I've been thinking about something very important."
Tesla was completely oblivious to the shock she had given her friend; she hadn't even realized what she'd been doing.
Are you serious?
Fortunately, Einstein was prepared. She pulled up a video she had secretly recorded of Tesla's dazed state and projected it onto the large screen.
The room was instantly filled with the sound of goofy giggling.
Einstein pointed at the Tesla on the screen and said, "See? This has been you ever since you came back. I really don't get it. We've been friends for decades, but even if you'd finally gotten a boyfriend, I wouldn't expect you to act like this."
Tesla's face turned beet-red, and she was utterly speechless.
"You—what are you doing? Delete it! Delete it now!"
Einstein shook her head. "No. First, you tell me what happened. Then I'll delete it. And don't even think about using your Herrscher powers to hack in and erase it. I've already fragmented it into memory data and stored it in the Stigma Space."
Why would you store something like that?!
With her powers effectively neutralized, Tesla had no choice but to tell Einstein everything.
Einstein fell silent.
She realized Tesla truly had a death wish, wanting to secretly run off with Noldrei.
Was that something a sane person would do?
Setting aside the fact that he currently played a critical leadership role in human civilization, just think about the immediate consequences. If Noldrei left Academy City, who knew how many pitfalls the development of Geneticism would encounter?
"Are you really planning to go with him?"
Einstein wanted to know what her friend was truly thinking.
From the very beginning, Tesla had wanted to leave with him. Now that human civilization had stabilized, what was wrong with wanting to do something for herself?
She was curious about the parallel worlds and Bubble Universes she had never seen, so it was only natural that she wanted to see the worlds Noldrei was searching for.
"Yeah. I want to see what it's like beyond Earth. Besides, if he leaves all by himself, wouldn't he be lonely?"
Tesla didn't see any problem with it. In her eyes, Noldrei had always been a loner, delegating his unfinished work to others. He never seemed to care whether those people were willing to follow him or not.
I doubt it's as bad as you think.
Einstein figured that if Noldrei did leave, he certainly wouldn't be alone. At the very least, he could pull all the memory constructs from the Elysian Realm out to work for him.
"I see..."
Einstein didn't try to dissuade Tesla. If she wanted to leave, then she should leave.
The world was now divided by choice. Some wished to extend their lives indefinitely, while others wanted to remain as they were and face death, seeking only to heal the old wounds they had never been able to mend.
If it weren't for her work in the real world, Einstein herself would have liked to experiment in the second Academy City to see if it was truly possible to treat psychological trauma, to see if she could truly forget the past and the loss of her friends.
"The more one grows, the more one loses the ability to forget pain."
This was one of the key principles of Geneticism, linking genetics to the psyche.
Looking at Dr. Tesla, who was so full of hope for the future, Einstein understood this principle clearly.
Dr. Tesla had already transcended the normal understanding of a carbon-based lifeform. She had rediscovered the ability, unique to the young, to forget pain. Her body and Einstein's were now fundamentally different.
Both of them had gained their seemingly eternal youth from the same accident. However, ever since Tesla had set foot in the Far East and met Noldrei, her genetic makeup had diverged from its original state. It was after that encounter that Einstein had noticed this new quality in Tesla.
She forgot pain much faster than an ordinary person.
A teenager's ability to recover from trauma far surpassed an adult's, whether in terms of memory, agility, or physical healing. Barring special circumstances, young people were simply superior.
Tesla hadn't noticed the changes in her own body, or perhaps she had, but saw them as beneficial and paid them no mind.
However, it wasn't a simple case of genetic modification.
Einstein hadn't been so lucky. She still carried the painful shadow of losing her friends. She could neither change her preferences and moods as easily as a young person nor simply shake off her troubles and start fresh.
Seeing her friend so happy, Einstein gave up on the idea of talking her out of it.
"Tesla, if you leave, what are you going to do about all your research?"
Einstein shifted the topic from Tesla's personal life back to her work.
"What else can I do? He already replicated and left behind the Gene Tree. As I see it, that thing contains the entire research history of humanity from his side. Anyone can climb that tree, so there's not much use for me anymore. Besides, there will be more and more capable researchers like me in the future. My work will become as dull and mundane as sweeping the streets."
Tesla thought for a moment before adding, "None of that is a problem. Whoever wants to do the research can have it."
So, you're just gonna skim the cream off the top and leave the rest to get caught in the rat race, huh?
Einstein didn't know what else to say.
"Well, in that case, there's nothing to worry about. Tesla, from now on... just remember to be happy."
This sudden, mushy advice from her friend made Tesla a bit uncomfortable.
"Mop-head, what's with you? Can't you find some work that makes you happy, too? My Herrscher Core isn't that important to me anymore. In the future, all the Herrscher Cores will be reclaimed by the Herrscher of Finality's authority anyway. We've come this far... From now on, I'm just going to do whatever I want!"
Tesla lifted her chin proudly.
How wonderful... Frederica.
Your mindset right now is like that of a young girl fresh out of school. Is this the form of humanity that Geneticism strives for?